Trivia / The Italian Job (1969)

• Ability over Appearance: Screenwriter Troy Kennedy-Martin wanted Nicol Williamson for Mr. Bridger, a character he envisioned as "tough as nails" and totally in control of the situation. Director Peter Collinson offered the role to Noël Coward instead, which changed the tone of the character.
• California Doubling: Coventry does 'a Toronto' - the sewer chase scenes are all filmed in Coventry, which at the time was having its pipes replaced, meaning easy access for filming.
• Completely Different Title:
  • In Sweden, the film was released as Den vilda biljakten, meaning "The Wild Car Chase".
  • Released in France as L'or se barre, literally "The Gold Walks Off".
• Creator Backlash: Michael Caine was not fond of the film's US poster (see main page), and thought it mislead viewers into assuming the film to be some sort of gritty Mafioso flick. He blamed it for the film's underperformance there.
• Deleted Scene: Part of the final Car Chase took place on an ice rink, with the cars gliding past each other to the accompaniment of Johann Strauss' "The Blue Danube". The scene was cut for timing reasons, and was apparently filmed without the director's knowledge.
• Doubling for London: Noël Coward couldn't film in England due to his status as a tax exile, so his scenes were filmed in Dublin.
• Funny Character, Boring Actor: In his autobiography, Michael Caine described working with Benny Hill:
  As a great admirer of the late Benny Hill, I was looking forward to working with him and getting to know him. The first part was a pleasure but the second part was impossible. Benny was very pleasant to all of us - unfailingly courteous, kind and professional, but it was not possible to make any real contact with him. He was a truly solitary soul and never mixed with the cast socially, even when we were all staying together in the same hotel. Like a lot of comedians I have known, Benny seemed a sad person.
• Irony as She Is Cast: This is a movie primarily about cars and driving. Michael Caine couldn't drive at the time the movie was made, and in fact he is never seen driving a car. The only time in the movie that Charlie Croker is assumed to be driving is the cut between when he picks up his Aston Martin at the garage, and in the next shot we see it arrive outside the hotel. But Caine gets out of a stationary Aston Martin after a further cut. Throughout the drive to Turin and the entire heist, Croker is always a passenger.
• Real-Life Relative:
  • Noël Coward, who played Bridger, was godfather of the director, Peter Collinson.
  • Bridger's fellow convict and confidant, Keats, was played by Graham Payn, Coward's long-time partner.
  • Lana Gatto was the nom de crédit of Hazel Collinson, otherwise known as Mrs. Peter Collinson.
  • Michael Caine's brother Stanley Caine also appears as one of Croker's gang.
• Referenced by...:
  • St. Trinian's also has a massive explosion that leads to the reprimand "You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!"
  • "The Self-Preservation Society" and "The Bloody Doors Off" are episode titles of The Boys (2019).
• Stillborn Franchise: Any hopes of the Cliffhanger ending being resolved in a sequel were dashed when the film didn't do well in America.
• Throw It In!: The scene between Charlie Croker and the garage owner was entirely improvised between Michael Caine and John Clive.
• Uncredited Role:
  • Valerie Leon as the Royal Lancaster receptionist.
  • Frank Kelly as a prison officer.
• What Could Have Been: Numerous endings were considered. In an interview, Michael Caine said that one was balancing the cliffhanging bus by burning off all the fuel only for the Mafia to turn up and reclaim the gold. Others included the gold being safely transported to Geneva or getting all the way to England, only to be returned to the Mafia as part of a compromise.
  • A few original lines were later taken out of the movie when the director realized that not many non-Brits would understand them, one regarding "someone from the smokes sticking his bugle in" on Charlie's operation. In American English, the line means that someone was worried that someone else from London would stick his nose into their business.
  • Robert Evans wanted Robert Redford to star as Charlie Croker.
  • The screenplay originally was set in London and was to have been a TV show. However the scope of the production was too large for British TV at the time and so the script was purchased for the movie and the setting changed to Turin because it had the most extensive computer-controlled traffic monitoring system in Europe. However Milan had been the original location choice until the producers realized it would be impossible to get a shooting permit.

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